She watched Talâs face, tracing the lines of it while he thoughtâŠ.something. Belle could tell he was thinking, and only then because she was focused on him, but not what. In the back of her own mind was still the constant drone of deaths and births, all mixed together into a sort of white noise that broke through to her primary thoughts only occasionally.
She didnât get breaks anymore, and that was the main difference. Always on the job, no matter what else she might want to do.
âActually, no,â she laughed a little, sheepish. Iâm not actually good at reading thoughts, mind you. It took Shadow what, a couple thousand years to learn to control her? And he had more motivation than she had. Not stupid, ever. This is new. She made the conscious effort to open herself up more, let him see what she was seeing in the back of her mind constantly and not just her immediate thoughts.
A young man being stabbed in his apartment
A new life born in a bath down the street
Someone on the other side of the world, bleeding out from a gunshot wound
The nursery unit at a hospital in Berlin, home to newborn triplets
Another in a different part, starving to death - its own sort of violence.
Itâs more that I can control what you hear, she said, letting those thoughts fade back to the background again. Not that I want to, but it tends to beâŠnoisy.
I get it, he thought at her, for all the good his action did. Iâm being selfish. He gathered up her hands and pelted them in what was less a flurry of kisses, and more a brief hailstorm.
âI just want to be able to keep you. And do what you did for me: keep you from pointless worry.â Yes. That fit comfortably. âJust⊠you dropped a lot on me, just now. Itâs⊠gonna take some time to adjust. Feel out the corners. You knowââ
Learn what we look like, now.
Dantalion ran his thumbs over the backs of her hands in a self-soothing sort of pattern â Not quite close enough together, yet! â and laughed nervously. âI hope the, uh. thing works as well as they say it should. It really sounds busy in there!â
Tal would literally die if his mind sounded like that, and he was guiltily grateful that it wasnât so.
Then again, everything of his since she had updated him had been tinged with guilt, and the feeling of further guilt at the self-indulgent nature of his guilt. He hoped he had hid it well, or it would keep multiplying with attention.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
turnnoffyourmind
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